Cyber Monday Sales

So as most of you know, today is the day the internet gives something back and gives us Cyber Monday in repayment for sucking the lives out of us the rest of the year. I've scooped out the best beauty deals for you and thoroughly researched the web for deals. You will want to take advantage of these sales because cosmetics products only go on sale when an item is being discontinued, is old, or a store will no longer be carrying that brand... it is very rare that they just have a great sale, usually the sales are fairly bogus. The best deals I can find thus far are:

- Stila's warehouse sale where things are up to 80% off can be found here. They make fabulous eyeshadow and lipgloss

- E.L.F. has a 50% off any purchase over $25 (code 50wide) offer or you can get free shipping over $25 (SHIP25) at their site here - it's unfortunate that you can't have both offers, though

- Cherryculture has 20% off your entire purchase on their website, they have great NYX products and most of their stock is inexpensive to begin with

-  Clinique gives you 3 deluxe sized samples (which means bigger than sample size but smaller than the full product) for any purchase on their website, this is a great deal because the items they have as samples can be amazing: such as blush, eye creams, lipsticks. So I suggest you pick up something you love by them and would use up even if there was no free offer (I get the De-Puffing Eye Massage Serum).

- Elizabeth Arden has 25% off any order and free shipping with code BF2 here and a free 9 piece deluxe gift set with any order over $40.

- Tarte has a pretty lame deal of 20% off up to $100 and then you get $30 off, the code is CYBER and you get a free full-sized gift here

- Shiseido (which almost never has a sale on anything) has a gift of deluxe samples including a primer, translucent powder and satin face color in a cosmetic pouch for purachases of over $50.

- Bath&BodyWorks has an amazing deal of 25% off your entire order with the code CYBER2011 and when you check out anything in the Holiday Traditions Body Care selection you get buy 1, get 1 free for double your order!

- The Body Shop has any 3 single items in the online store for $30... that's right, even if the one item you chose was over the total price, it will still only be charged as 3 for $30. You also get free shipping with any purchase. If you add the code JOY10, you also get 10% off your order. So 3 items end up being $27, when usually just one would run you higher than that. Plus you get the free shipping... this is an amazing deal for night-cream and moisturizers.

Happy hunting everybody!!!!

Z Palette: to buy or not to buy?

I wrote last week that I had ordered my very first Z palette to house all of my old depotted eyeshadows from various brands that don't fit into a regular-sized palette (which usually holds 16mm eyeshadows). So I decided to embark on this little journey to make my own customized palette of random blushes and eyeshadows that I had laying around. When you are finished, your collection will look like this (but less beat-up than mine because some of my products are really used up and abused):

What you'll need for this project:

• depotted eyeshadows/blushes (if you don't know how to do this, check back to my depotting entry where I tell you how to)
• labels
• adhesive magnets (from an art store or department store)
• scissors
• Z palette or any magnetic palette that's empty and fits any size pans
• rubbing alcohol
• scrubbing sponge

Firstly, you will want to dab a scrubbing sponge into rubbing alcohol and make sure you take the excess glue off of the back of your depotted eyeshadow pan. This will make the whole process a lot less messy and keep your palette looking clean. Take your depotted eyeshadows/blushes and cut a label to write the name of the product, the company that made it and the color for your reference. Unstick the adhesive peel from the magnet and place it on the back of your eyeshadow so that you have reference if you run out of a certain color you love and need to go back and get some more. If you really don't care what the color or product is then just skip this step.

Tools you will need

Then you can cut out a magnet that measures the size of your pan, so place the pan on top of the adhesive magnet and stick it on. Cut around the pan with your scissors or an exacto knife so that you have a perfectly sized magnet. This magnet goes on top of the label to make sure your eyeshadow is securely in the pan. Some pans are magnetized and do not need to have magnets placed on their backs. It is easy to remove the magnetic adhesive strip by hand so if you need name-reference, you can simply do that and re-apply it. If you choose to put your label on the outermost side and sandwich the magnet between the label and the pan, you may not have as good of a grip and your shadows may move.

You can make a separate little paper sheet insert that you can stick to the window of the palette that acts as a guide to your colors. I chose not to do this because I don't use these colors extremely often and will certainly not re-purchase these brands when I can get my hands on MAC and Urban Decay shadows. I have NYX, L'Oreal, Maybelline, Estee Lauder, Lancome, Trish McEvoy, and Clinique products in my Z palette. Most of my stuff is from random gifts with purchases and drug-store buys when I was first starting out with makeup.

My first Z palette!

The last step is simply organizing your pans and popping them in the Z palette however you'd like! I like the concept of the Z palette because you can see everything you have inside, but the problem is that I thought they would be bigger. It turns out the Z palette PRO ($28) and the Z palette regular ($20) palettes only differ by half an inch in width and a very minuscule amount in depth. The depth is important to me so I opted for the PRO palette because I'm putting blushes and mineralized shadows in my next one. But if you're only going to put small eyeshadows, I suggest going for the regular one, as it is $8 cheaper. You can purchase them on Amazon, which is what I did and they arrive in approximately 3 business days. I like the fact that I can now stack all of my eyeshadows and blushes with my other palettes rather than investing in tons of those little Rubbermaid drawers to put them in. When you put things away like this, you risk not seeing all your products for long periods of time and purchasing items even though you already have some at home (but you don't remember because you haven't seen them in awhile). I don't like rifling through my single eyeshadows for a particular color I'm looking for, so this is going to make my morning makeup routine a lot simpler. I suggest buying these if you're a big fan of makeup and have an enormous collection like I do. I'm thrilled with the way I can see all of my colors so I know what to reach for! I give them a 9/10, only because I want more and I think they can be even bigger to fit larger products!

How to take care of your face

I've devised a few easy steps, which come from my experience giving makeup tutorials for sensitive skin at the hospital, and my personal love-affair with makeup over the past decade. I will not be posting about expensive creams that promise to perform wonders, because I don't really believe that they do, and the beauty industry can be extortion a lot of times, using very similar, if not the exact same, chemicals in creams of all price-points. Don't believe the hype, nothing will make you look younger if you abuse your face, the best way to keep looking fresh-faced is to maintain a logical regimen that revitalizes and hydrates your skin.

Cleanliness is very important, washing your face with Dove soap or cold cream can drastically reduce your breakouts and proves to be moisturizing for your skin. The purpose of using soap when washing your face is to mostly remove the dirt and grime that inevitably build up in your pores from day-to-day dust and grime, as well as makeup. Also, it is important to be using brushes or makeup sponge wedges when applying your foundation and concealers, you don't want to be putting your hands on the product and transferring your bacteria onto the bottle or your face. For this reason, it is also absolutely essential to discard your  sponges after a few uses (use your common judgement, for me they last about a week) and to wash your brushes once a week. 

Morning

Do you suffer from puffy eyes in the morning and have to cover those bags up with tons of concealer? My trick to getting those down is a mixture of drinking plenty of fluids every day, getting the right amount of rest in (8 hours of sleep per night is ideal), andClinique's de-puffing serum in the form of a rollerball (retails for $26). It's great because it is hypoallergenic, the rollerball promotes the movement of fluids and stimulates circulation underneath your eye and it has a refreshing, cooling sensation that will cause your blood vessels to constrict. Ultimately, for all of these reasons it will bring puffiness and dark-circles to a minimum. I have this listed under the morning category, but you can be using it at night also.

Before applying your makeup, you should ideally use a daily moisturizer such as Clinique's dramatically-different moisturizer or Nivea's moisturizing cream. Either one will work, or you can use whatever is tried, tested, and true with your skin. If you are in a colder climate, you should opt for even more moisturizing in your cream (such as this Nivea). Apply just a dollop so that it will absorb into your skin before you put your makeup on (in the meantime, just get dressed, make yourself a cup of coffee, and let it seep into your skin).

 Then, for the ultimate morning-pick-me-up, use a pure Aloe Vera gel, all over your face to substitute for a face primer (be careful not to put it on your eyes, though, that can sting). It is a very inexpensive alternative to a facial primer and is not jam-packed with chemicals, but rather protects your skin with a sheer coating of the all-natural Aloe gel (you can find it at Wal-mart in a 12oz bottle for just under $4.00). This is a trick I discovered many years ago and I have been using it every day. If you apply this all over your face, you will have a flat, even surface to apply your foundation onto and it will act as a barrier for your pores so that your makeup does not clog them up. Try it once, and you will see a major difference in the way your foundation and powder sits on your face.

Night-time
Once a week, you can use a soft exfoliating facial wash, or use a silicon-face brush to slough off any dead skin cells from your face, but do not be too aggressive when doing so, or you will irritate your face and cause it to release more oils to protect itself and this will make you break out. Do not exfoliate every day, or even every other day, it is aggressive on your skin and you should do it sparingly.

More importantly than anything else is removing your makeup that you have been wearing all day before you go to sleep. You can do this with makeup wipes (although they tend to be alcohol-based and will promote drying your face), cleansing wash, or soap and water, but please do not fall asleep with that makeup on! I think it's pretty self-explanatory... you don't want all that gunk to be in your pores and on your eyes, the makeup will settle in your wrinkles (yes, even if you're a teenager) and will continue to wedge them in and make them even bigger!!! Nobody wants to give themselves wrinkles!

Before going to sleep, you should apply a night-repairing facial moisturizing cream and a night-repair eye serum, because you won't be able to keep hydrated at night (who drinks in their sleep?) and these will help your skin from drying out. I've found that Lancome, Estee Lauder, and Clinique make good products, so really here I use whatever I can get my hands on. It's a good idea to change these up, as your skin will get used to the active ingredients and their benefits will be decreased. However, if you are allergic to most creams and you know of one that does agree with your skin, then stick to it!

If you follow these rules, you will stay youthful and beautiful looking for as long as your wonderful genetics allow you to. Take care of yourself and your face will thank you.